Amy, A Madrigal!
by DoubleDigits
Summary: Ian's POV when they discover Amy and Dan being Madrigals in 'Into the Gauntlet'. Sorry if I miss parts. Google book isn't the best. Also, I hope it's better than you expect! One-shot, as usual. 1,575 words.


**He had watched her grow from a stuttering child, to a lovely, bold teenager that he fell in love with. He'd seen her moments; caring for her brother, unneeded panic attacks, dangerous situations that his family caused, sickness and disgust, and...love. He never thought about who she could've really been. Who her family really could've been?**

"Approved," the automated voice said. I let out a sigh of relief. "Madrigal?"

"What?" the old man Alistair exploded. "Madrigals aren't a Cahill branch!"

"Madrigals?" This was the largest Holt. "Madrigals are evil!"

My head spun. Madrigals?! They were the enemy! Mummy had told us about them. Even I had some nasty experience with the Madrigals. This machine had to be broken. Madrigals were harmful, disgusting people. "Everybody hates Madrigals!" I cried.

Our voices seemed to blend. This was the most unity we Cahills had shown in five hundred years! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amy Cahill frown, and her cheeks turned red with embarrassment for some odd reason.

The hip-star (or whatever Americans called it) Jonah yelled out, "Dan told me in China that he was a Madrigal!" He then turned to Amy's brother. "Dan, do you want to pretend that again? Think you can fool the elevator?" For once, that idiot was even more of an idiot (and he wasn't even using his slang terms this time!)

Amy's face turned into a concerned frown, as if mentally telling her brother (which she could sometimes do) to lie.

Dan's voice rang out above all our protests. "I am a Madrigal! My whole family is Madrigal! Even Nellie's a Madrigal." The babysitter? "But it's not what you think! We're-"

I didn't listen to my grumbling, or anyone else's for that matter. I was studying Amy Cahill.

Amy Cahill..._**Madrigal?!**_

We always wondered what branch the siblings, Grace, and their parents (Which my mother killed. I hope Amy doesn't know.) were. Certainly not Lucian, perhaps Ekat, in no way they were Tomas, and they weren't musical like Janus at all! We all assumed Ekat, or that they were just a few oddballs. Not even they had known which branch they were! And we took this guilt and used it. Now it's backfired. Madrigals... Were Madrigals even a branch?!

I hated to admit this, but I...l...lo...loved Amy Cahill. Her lovely green eyes, her pale complexion, her orange hair...Mummy had always spat that Amy looked like her grandmother Grace when Grace was younger. I didn't suppose that was a bad thing at all.

I remembered every Christmas when the Kabras came over. Natalie and I were snotty and rich. Amy and Dan, being poor and under the care of a awful witch (I'd met her and I felt extreme sympathy to them,) despised us. But I felt bad about that. I hadn't known Amy that well, but I liked her old stuttering, bookworm-ish, and cute ways.

Amy had grown more and more beautiful since the beginning of the clue hunt. When I'd kissed her (well, more like brushed my lips on hers since I felt I deserved that reward after saving her life,) Amy had been average beauty, a little pretty too, but now she was "warm" as Americans put it.

Amy had also grown in bravery. If she were the Old Amy (before the clue hunt) she would've died of a heart attack when Mummy and I almost fed her to the sharks and when she lost her books and family. Old Amy would've fallen for all the times I tried to charm her (but unfortunately she learned not to fall for me anymore since I assume I broke her heart that day when we betrayed her, Dan, and the old Ekat.)

I remembered how everyone (even Amy and Dan) had been scared of the Madrigals. We all hated them. Now we find two of our group to be Madrigals, and we all worked with them! They were truly Madrigals, tricking and lying to us. Their "innocence" had made us all think they were useless, besides Amy's brain and Dan's memory.

We were all wrong. They were quite clever, and they'd gotten most of the ingredients and other clues (minus a few things like the Janus Serum that Amy sacrificed to save me...) I always wondered why she did that. Now I know.

Madrigals may seem "heartless", and they were definitely cruel and clever. But they also cared.

"NO!" The beefiest Holt yelled. "I will not be on a team with the Madrigals! I refuse!"

As we cowered from Eisenhower, he picked up Dan and lifted him, ready to toss him (then later Amy) out of the elevator.

"No!" Amy screamed, shoving past me (I slightly smiled as her hand brushed me by accident) and to the front.

Suddenly the voice returned, saying, "Approved. All present."

The machine proved it. Eisenhower, the idiot, had lifted Dan up at the right angle unknowingly (what _did_ he know, for the matter?), and the machine accepted Dan. Dan and Amy were Madrigals, and this time they weren't lying. This startled the Holt, and he stepped back, half in and out of the elevator.

Suddenly the babysitter Nellie attacked. It all happened too fast to describe, but the Holt dropped the...the..._Madrigal_ boy (I'm going to need to wash my tongue after this). The Holt grabbed the babysitter and the pilot to crash their heads together.

"Nellie!" cried out Amy. The elevator door shut, and we began upward.

* * *

The Madrigal boy cried something out about his hand.

"Dan-Dan! Are you there?" Amy asked over our panicked voices. The boy answered as he shoved something from underneath my shoe.

Our panicked voices turned to grumbling, and then turned to whispers.

"Madrigals. Dan and Amy are Madrigals..."

* * *

I panicked. Where was my sister? Suddenly I felt her plush skirt behind me, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Natalie?" I called out over Hamilton Holt and the Madrigal girl's voice.

I expected to hear Natalie whining; about how the crowding in the elevator was wrinkling her dress, about _the Madrigals_ practically on top of her and the boy sitting on her, and about how our time was running out.

Instead, she reached out...and held my hand. We hadn't done that in a long time.

* * *

The old man muttered something about Janus. "Perhaps someone from all five branches should touch this at the same time."

There was a still, quiet moment. Then in a flash everyone was shoving, each person fighting to get to the keypad. As I hit the keypad, I heard Dan yell something to his sister.

Amy tripped over Jonah; Dan tumbled on top of my sister; Alistair was the last to enter.

Nothing happened. Alistair muttered about being wrong, when suddenly the back wall vanished...

* * *

**EVENTS HAPPEN... GOOGLE BOOKS IS BAD...**

"Sinead, that's not a riddle," Amy said. "It's the truth. It's-it's what Madrigals are hoping for." With ease, Amy pushed past Sinead and shoved the door open.

"See?" Amy glanced back at us.

My eyes widened. Madrigals...unite the family? Well, they did unite Natalie and me back in the elevator...

Amy continued. "Madrigals have wanted to get the family back together since the very beginning," she said softly. "We're descended from Madeleine, the fifth child of Gideon and Olivia Cahill. And-"

Hamilton interrupted, stating that there were only four children.

Madeleine...Where on earth have I heard that name before?!

My focus came back when Amy began speaking again.

"Olivia was pregnant when Gideon died."

What?

"Madeleine was born after the others fought and scattered. And it wasn't safe to tell. So the Madrigals just want to stop the fighting. They want harmony. Peace...For...For..." It seemed to me like Amy was trying to say 'forgiveness.'

I understood. She couldn't say forgiveness in front of all of us, especially me.

"Turns out we're the good guys," Dan chirped.

I wasn't about to show all my feelings towards Amy. "Oh, right," I sneered. "And that's why the Madrigals are always stealing other branches' clues, destroying all their plans-" I was about to continue down my new list.

"To keep any one branch from having too much power," the child interrupted. "For balance."

Amy turned. The torch's light (flashlight as Americans call it) went to another keypad. On the very top was a 'M' and Madrigal.

I didn't pay attention. I was concerned in my own thoughts.

Just then, there was a rumble.

"It's her! It's her!" Natalie screamed.

"Just run!" I yelled.

I heard Amy shout about a safe place, and I ran towards her voice...

* * *

**This was a one-shot about Ian's feeling during the time when everyone finds out that their "favorite" team are Madrigals. Hope you like it! And sorry if I missed some parts. I don't have the book, and Google Books is horrible, and I had to stop here for that reason.**

**Also, if you read 'For Being Mine' look out for the prequel, 'Truth _and_ Dare'! What happens when Ian and the guys play truth and dare? What will Ian's truth and dare be?**


End file.
